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SOC 1117: Focus Groups for Social and Market Research

Updated for Fall 2022

Perceptions of Plant-based Protein

Research Topic: Student athlete perceptions of plant-based protein

Step 1: Identify main concepts in your question

  • Topic 1: student athlete
  • Topic 2: plant-based protein
  • Topic 3: perceptions

Step 2: Identify synonyms for each concept

Topic 1: student athlete Topic 2: plant-based protein Topic 3: perceptions

Student OR college

athlete*

athletic*

sport*

vegan

alternative protein

vegetarian diet

nutrition

plant protein

sustainable protein

opinion

focus group

interview

Step 3: Who else is interested in these topics?

  • Medical professionals
  • Environmental researchers
  • Market researchers

Step 4: Identify sources of information for each stakeholder

Medical Professionals Environmental Researchers Market Researchers
PubMed Review sources on Environmental Studies Guide

BruKnow

ProQuest Business

Business Source Complete

Statista

Step 5: Exploratory boolean searches

Select a place to start some exploratory searching. You may start with Google Scholar, or by browsing a bibliography from a class reading  but to save time, select one of the stakeholder databases to begin.

Examples:

BruKnow:

Proquest Business:

  • ((Student* OR college) AND athlete*) AND "focus group" AND (plant-based OR vegan)
  • athlete* AND (plant-based OR vegan) AND (perception OR opinion)

Business Source Complete:

  • athlete* AND (plant-based OR vegan)

Step 6: Refine search and continue your research

As you look through articles, make note of other terms and synonyms and relevant subject terms. You may adjust your search strategy for each stakeholder database. For example:

SocINDEX:

  • (nutrition OR diet OR vegan OR plant-based) AND (ZU "focus groups")
  • (athlete* OR athletics OR sport*) AND (ZU "focus groups")

Business Source Complete:

  • (athlete* OR athletics OR sport*) AND (DE "FOCUS groups")
  • (nutrition OR diet OR vegan OR plant-based) AND (DE "focus groups")
  • (plant protein) AND (DE "FOCUS groups")

Step 7: Save and organize references as you go!

For suggestions, refer to the Library tutorial on citation management.